posted 01-30-2010 11:09 AM
The California Office of Historic Preservation voted Friday to extend state historical resource status to Tranquility Base and more specifically, 106 objects left behind by the crew of Apollo 11.

Recording of Tranquility Base as an Historical Resource:

No humans have since returned to Tranquility Base following the departure of the Apollo 11 crew in 1969 to document the current conditions of the site. Under a $23,000 research enhancement grant from NASA through the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, the artifacts and features left behind by Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. were documented, inventoried, and mapped through archival research. Research was carried out at the Johnson Space Center and Lunar Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas and at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, National Archives, and NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. Subsequently, under a $20,000 Federal grant from the National Space Grant Consortium, an educational website was published and is continually maintained.

Based on the extensive federally-funded research, Tranquility Base has been recognized as an historical resource with significance on the national and state level. While a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places and World Heritage Site programs is planned, the current level of recording is focused on the important role of the State of California and most of the objects have a connection to California. Therefore, these [Department of Parks and Recreation] forms document Tranquility Base as a significant cultural resource and is hereby nominated to the California Register of Historical Resources. No other state has previously listed Tranquility Base on its state register.

Credit: Lunar Legacy Project/U.S. Geological Survey

The move is a part of a multi-state effort to award National Historic Landmark status -- and then ultimately United Nations World Heritage Site status -- to the Apollo 11 landing site. Similar votes are expected soon in Texas, New Mexico, Georgia and Florida.

The status applies to the discarded hardware and equipment only, not the land on which they sit. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prevents nations from claiming sovereignty over the Moon, but nations retain ownership of the objects sent there.

The 106+ objects now with California State Historical Resource status:

Commemorative Plaque attached to the Lunar Module Descent Leg. "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." The plaque is signed by the Apollo 11 crew and President Richard M. Nixon. (1)

In one small step for preservation and one giant leap of logic, the official historical commission of California voted Friday to protect two small urine collection devices, four space-sickness bags and dozens of other pieces of detritus, all currently residing nearly a quarter of a million miles from the state.

Leon FordMember

Posts: 309From: Shreveport, LA, United StatesRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 01-30-2010 02:02 PM
Pretty silly. Just want to make the news.

moorougeMember

Posts: 1490From: U.K.Registered: Jul 2009

posted 01-30-2010 03:30 PM
I notice that item 78 is listed as "Footprint". Which one? Presumably all the others are collectable and can be collected and sold. Wonder how much they'd be on eBay?

Apollo ReduxMember

Posts: 346From: Montreal, Quebec, CanadaRegistered: Sep 2006

posted 01-30-2010 04:02 PM
I'd really like to know how you can preserve something that you have no means of reaching, and thus enforce the preservation.

Robert PearlmanEditor

Posts: 27328From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 01-30-2010 04:16 PM
Well, just for example, the Google Lunar X Prize will, over the next several years, see private companies and teams from around the world attempt to land a rover on the Moon. A bonus "heritage prize" is offered for the team that can send back imagery of legacy hardware.

Should National Landmark status be granted, then, at least in theory, any U.S. team that disrupts or damages Tranquility Base (for example, by rolling over the boot prints near Eagle's ladder) could be held legally responsible. If UN World Heritage Site status is granted, then the same could (in theory) apply to any team, regardless of where on Earth they are based.

SpaceAholicMember

Posts: 3023From: Sierra Vista, ArizonaRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 01-30-2010 04:35 PM
I think only signatories to the World Heritage treaty are obligated to protect the sites (not all countries have signed/ratified).

Robert PearlmanEditor

Posts: 27328From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 01-30-2010 04:58 PM
Interesting point. As of April 2009, there were 186 states to the World Heritage Convention.

mark plasMember

Posts: 360From: the NetherlandsRegistered: Aug 2000

posted 01-31-2010 02:48 AM
What are the Apollo Space Boots?

Robert PearlmanEditor

Posts: 27328From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 01-31-2010 08:41 AM
The EVA boots, or lunar overboots, that Armstrong and Aldrin wore while on the surface covering their PGA boots.

mark plasMember

Posts: 360From: the NetherlandsRegistered: Aug 2000

posted 01-31-2010 09:31 AM
Well the overshoes are number 34 on the list.

Robert PearlmanEditor

Posts: 27328From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 01-31-2010 09:48 AM
Good catch, so its either a double listing or perhaps a spare set of overshoes were carried and then jettisoned?

If I understand the donning/doffing instructions for the A7L, the Pressure Garment Assembly (PGA) gas connectors, otherwise recognized as the fittings on the front of the suit, were protected by a cover that was removed during donning.

As the ascent stage is not located at Tranquility Base, it wouldn't be covered by this effort...

Matt TMember

Posts: 1356From: Chester, Cheshire, UKRegistered: May 2001

posted 02-01-2010 06:45 AM
If ever there was a week when a 'No Walking On This Piece Of Moon' sign was redundant... Beautiful timing.

Space Cadet CarlMember

Posts: 77From: Lake Orion, MichiganRegistered: Feb 2006

posted 02-01-2010 07:08 AM
Everyone thought the wreck of the Titanic was unreachable and eternally protected from scavengers too. The French expedition to the Titanic site in 1988 proved that theory to be a huge falsehood. They recovered tons of stuff from the Titanic wreck and sold it. Protecting Tranquility Base is not a silly idea whatsoever. Makes perfect sense to me.

Fra MauroMember

Posts: 1017From: Maspeth, NYRegistered: Jul 2002

posted 02-01-2010 09:57 AM
I like the symbolism, since I am a history teacher and want to see sites preserved but from practical standpoint, since no American will set foot there again, it is pointless.

Robert PearlmanEditor

Posts: 27328From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 02-01-2010 10:17 AM

quote:Originally posted by Fra Mauro:...since no American will set foot there again, it is pointless.

Okay, forget about setting their feet there for the moment, what about sending their rovers there, or slamming their science instruments into there?

thumpMember

Posts: 559From: washington dc usaRegistered: May 2004

posted 02-01-2010 10:50 AM
Isn't everything left on the moon by NASA property of the Smithsonian?

jimszMember

Posts: 530From: Registered: Aug 2006

posted 02-01-2010 10:51 AM
I'm still confused on how California can enact legislation for something outside of it's borders that is binding on anyone, anywhere. Especially when the relationship to any of this has little or nothing to do with California.

A $23,000 grant from NASA. The irony that there will be a news conference about the lack of funding available.

Robert PearlmanEditor

Posts: 27328From: Houston, TXRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 02-01-2010 11:00 AM

quote:Originally posted by thump:...property of the Smithsonian?

I believe so, but I don't think this is a question of ownership, but rather protection of the objects from being disturbed where they sit.

bobzzMember

Posts: 97From: Batavia, IllinoisRegistered: Aug 2007

posted 02-01-2010 11:07 AM

quote:Originally posted by jimsz:I'm still confused on how California can enact legislation for something outside of it's borders that is binding on anyone, anywhere.

...that's California for ya!

Leon FordMember

Posts: 309From: Shreveport, LA, United StatesRegistered: Nov 1999

posted 02-01-2010 11:09 AM
If we can't get up there to protect it, it should be open to whoever gets there. I think our rights to that stuff ended today. Maybe the Smithsonian can buy some of the stuff from China on eBay when they bring it back. Sad day.

AztecdougMember

Posts: 1330From: Huntington BeachRegistered: Feb 2000

posted 02-01-2010 12:28 PM

quote:Originally posted by jimsz:I'm still confused on how California can enact legislation for something outside of it's borders that is binding on anyone, anywhere.

Well, with Ex-Gov. Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown running for governor again, never overlook the ability for California voters or government to enact the absurd.

jdcuppNew Member

Posts: From: Registered:

posted 02-01-2010 02:00 PM
What California and many others have forgotten is that all that stuff was already "salvaged" in the 70's by Andy Griffith.

The artifacts left behind at Tranquility Base have been designated as historic properties by the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division. This makes New Mexico the second state in the union to approve such a designation. California approved a similar resolution in January.

The Cultural Properties Review Committee made the designation official last week when it approved a nomination prepared by the committee's vice chairwoman, Beth O'Leary; students at New Mexico State University; and the Apollo 11 Preservation Task Force.

spacekiddoMember

Posts: 31From: The NetherlandsRegistered: Mar 2011

posted 04-12-2011 02:19 PM
I really hope that one day the original Apollo landing site(s) will be revisited. It must be very special to see the first footsteps again that Neil and Buzz left behind. I wonder if it will ever happen, at least when I'm still alive (57 now).

Did the US protect these landing sites internationally by law, so no one can ever disturb or ruin them?

Editor's note: Threads merged.

moorougeMember

Posts: 1490From: U.K.Registered: Jul 2009

posted 04-12-2011 02:20 PM
I thought that the Moon was 'international' territory and, as such, no nation has any claim on any part of it. If this is the case, then Tranquility Base can only be protected by international agreement through the United Nations.